Shego
Shego is a fictional character from Fox's animated television series Kim Possible, voiced by Nicole Sullivan. The character, ever since her first appearance in the pilot episode, "Crush" appears as Dr. Drakken's sidekick, though in some episodes acts as a mercenary for other villains. She is one of the franchise's main antagonists. She made her live-action debut appearance in the 2019 film Kim Possible, who is portrayed by Taylor Ortega. Shego has become the most popular villain of the series as well as one of its most popular characters, as well as television's most popular characters. She has appeared in other media relating to Kim Possible – including video games, films, commercials and comic books – and inspired a line of merchandise. Personality Shego is one of the most mature characters in the franchise and says a lot of profanity, which includes “damn”, “hell”, and “crap”. Unlike most other Kim Possible villains, she is not afflicted with megalomania or narcissism. However, despite her generally rational and sane demeanor, she is frequently impatient and quick to anger, especially when she feels that someone is being obnoxious or stupid. Her brother, Hego, once summed her up as a "cranky smart-mouth, prone to excessive violence." As a villain, Shego is dedicated to her work, but often appears unmotivated and unambitious, dividing her free time between lounging in Drakken's lair reading villain magazines, filing her clawed gloves, and visiting spa resorts. For the most part, she does not initiate any schemes of her own, instead preferring to assist others as an enforcer or infiltrator. Despite being one of the smartest villains (or perhaps because of this fact), she generally prefers direct tactics, often involving physical force or intimidation, instead of high technology gadgets and overly complicated schemes.5 Because of her effectiveness as a sidekick, Shego appears to be well respected among the villain community, as some of them have broken her out of prison in order to enlist her assistance. Nevertheless, Shego has nothing but contempt for the franchise's other villains. Despite her fearsome persona, Shego is one of the few antagonists in the franchise who have a moral compass. She has expressed concern over cruelty to animals and pauses at the thought of stealing a wheelchair from a handicapped boy, stating that it is a low act even for villains such as Drakken.3 However, she usually puts aside her misgivings once a plan appears to be working out. Shego has never actually killed anyone on the show, though she has demonstrated a callous disregard for human life. Once, while partnered with Motor Ed, who earlier commented on Shego's "appetite for destruction", she excitedly remarked that the shockwave resulting from a high-powered rocket reaching full speed would "doom the world to chaos!"8 Appearance Shego is a conventionally attractive young woman, with long black hair, an athletic build, sharp jawline, and slanted bright green eyes. She stands about a half foot taller than Kim. Her exact age remains unknown, though it was stated that she was in her early-to-mid 20s9 and it was revealed that she is a college graduate (unspecified degree in child development10). As a result of being struck by a glowing, rainbow colored comet as a child (see below) her skin has a pale green tinge. Her signature costume is a green and black full-body catsuit with matching gloves and boots, arranged in a harlequin's dazzle pattern. The gloves are tipped with metal claws, which she has occasionally been seen filing to keep sharp. On the occasions when Shego has been seen to wear different outfits, they typically follow the same color scheme as her signature outfit. In the Kim Possible movie A Sitch In Time: Future Story, Shego conquers Middleton and she wears the same color with a matching black cape. Powers and abilities Shego is an expert in all kinds of fields, with infiltration and sabotage as her specialties. She possesses extensive martial arts training and impressive fitness and agility, rivaling the skills displayed by her nemesis Kim Possible. Her attack is also enhanced by metal claws on her gloves, and on occasion she has used her claw-like fingernails to similar effect. She is often seen filing them. Shego is endowed with a unique superpower: the ability to generate green, flame-like bolts of glowing energy from her hands. This energy can be used to heat or melt anything she touches, or fired as a directed energy attack ranging from laser precision to a destructive blast. Originally, Fox described Shego's green flames as being purely concussive in nature, although in later episodes she was shown using her flames to burn or melt things "to hell". These powers were first stated by Disney as being generated by her gloves, making them a weapon rather than a superpower. However, this fact was retroactively changed during the show's second season, when these abilities were revealed to be a true superpower resulting from exposure to a rainbow-hued comet which also empowered her four brothers. In addition to her energy attack, Shego appears to possess superhuman durability that allows her to survive situations of calamitous destruction that would probably kill other characters. In the film So the Drama, she was kicked into a live electrical signal tower, which shocked her and then proceeded to collapse on top of her. She came out of the incident with slightly torn clothes and frazzled hair. Series history At some unknown point prior to the start of the series, a rainbow-colored comet smashed into Shego's childhood tree house, and endowed her and her four brothers with super powers. She then became a hero who, alongside her four brothers, defended Go City against a number of villains as the superhero group Team Go. Shego eventually left the team for reasons that were never fully specified, but anecdotal evidence suggests there were three primary reasons: a fascination with villainy, crankiness, and irritation with her brothers. At some point, she abandoned her family and their quest for justice for a life as a mercenary-for-hire.4 It is unknown what happened with Shego right after leaving her family, but from the beginning of the series Shego has been, for the most part, in the employ of Dr. Drakken as his sidekick and enforcer. It is during this stage of her life in which the series mostly revolves, leading her and Drakken to multiple confrontations against Kim Possible. Throughout the series, Shego is repeatedly defeated by Kim Possible and sent back to jail. She is (as previously mentioned) a formidable fighter and gets the better of Kim Possible a few times, whereupon her successes are usually stopped by Ron (often accidentally), Rufus, or, on occasion, bungling from Drakken or interference from his machinery. In the second season, one of the most notable events involving Shego was her reunion with her brothers; she had to team up with her rival Kim to retrieve their powers, which had been stolen by an old enemy of hers, Aviarius. This was the first time the show took the time to detail bits of Shego's past, delving into her previously unknown background as a once-upon-a-time teenage heroine herself. A notable curiosity in the series, Shego is the only villain who is never given a common name, being known only as Shego throughout the show's run. Beyond this, her age is also difficult to place. At times, she seems to be only slightly older than Kim Possible, enjoying hip-hop music, fast cars, and handsome men; and critiquing the heroine on her fashion and dating choices, as well as being found attractive by both Ron and Senor Senior Junior, who are both of a high school-college age. Still at other times she seems to be quite a bit older, having (or perhaps faking) a complex college degree in child development, dating Mister Barkin, and being characterized by Ron as "older, like, a lot older!" Of course, this also comes in the same scene in "Clean Slate" where Sheo tries to convince an amnesiac Kim that she was a senior while the heroine was a freshman. Relationships Kim Possible Main article: Kim Possible (character) Shego has a powerful rivalry with Kim on the battlefield, which is sometimes kept at a "professional" context, but usually involves a few insults. This rivalry, however, progressed along the series, becoming more and more personal for both fighters. Like Bonnie, Shego talks down to Kim as if she were a child, often referring to her by the diminutive "Kimmie" or nicknames like "Princess" or "Pumpkin", as well as putting down both her appearance and wardrobe.21However, Kim doesn’t seem to be quite as affected by Shego's insults as with Bonnie's, and her retorts have a better effect against Shego. Over time and despite this rivalry, or possibly because of it, Shego has developed a professional respect which she often shows for Kim as a rival and a fighter, and is less than impressed when she manages to ruin Drakken’s scheme. In some instances they share a bond, especially when they are stuck in the same "sitch," usually leading to small and almost friendly conversations. Drakken Main article: Dr. Drakken Dr. Drakken is Shego’s usual employer; she has been stated to be his sidekick. They have worked together for most of their schemes, but she rarely shows much concern over him even though he claims that he likes to think of them as some kind of “evil families”. Their relationship teeters between a familiar, cooperative interaction and annoyance or frustration with each other. As a sidekick, she started out in the series being respectful towards Drakken. As the franchise progressed, she began to develop a stronger personality and to openly show contempt for him. Eventually, Shego became the dominant one, and began threatening him with violence if he stepped over the line with her.[ Señor Senior, Junior Main article: Señor Senior Junior Junior is one of the few characters that has managed to earn Shego’s respect. Señor Senior Sr. hired Shego to teach his son Junior the finer points of villainy, and although the training practically started with complications, Junior eventually proved to be an apt pupil, and Shego a capable instructor. They may be in mutual pursuit of evil schemes, but their relationship seems to be based on a friendly teacher-student dynamic, although her loyalty towards him is rather questionable. Family Main article: Team Go Shego has four brothers: Hego, Mego, and a set of twins who were never identified in the first episode, but were later revealed to be called Wego.10 All of them granted with unique super-powers like her, which Hego referred to as a "Go-Team-Glow" in the episode "Go Team Go". With them, she used to be part of Team Go. Her reasons for leaving the team and turning to evil are never fully examined. Two different views are offered: Hego claims that the more Team Go fought against evil, the more Shego came to like evil; while Shego strongly suggests that she left not because of any particular calling to villainy, but for the fact that her brothers' behavior and dysfunctions drove her away. Shego has a huge resentment towards her brothers’ attitude, finding them incompetent, argumentative, and irritating, and their dysfunctional and annoying relationship was part of the reason she abandoned Team Go's fight for justice to pursue evil. Her brothers, on the other hand, are fairly oblivious to the fact their sister has turned to a life of villainy. Hego has called her a "cranky smart mouth, prone to excessive violence",4 but still considers Shego to be his sister unconditionally. Although they have disagreements, in the episode "Go Team Go," Shego deserts Dr. Drakken to help her brothers regain their powers from minor villain "Avarius." Shego apparently provided the brains and initiative of Team Go. It was through her efforts they kept focused and organized as a super-hero group: when she left, Team Go collapsed into ineffectual bickering and soon disbanded. When they briefly, fully regrouped in "Stop Team Go" they quickly regained their fighting effectiveness. Despite the fact that Shego claims to dislike her siblings and even though she would never admit it, it was strongly suggested that Shego still has a sense of familial love for them, as pointed out by both Kim and Drakken. Motor Ed Shego first encounters Motor Ed in the episode "Steal Wheels". She finds him extremely annoying because of his sexist attitudes and incessant attempts to hit on her. Her attempts to discourage him (up to and including attacking him with her energy blasts) only increase his infatuation. When Momma Lipsky learns that Ed has been incarcerated, she brings him to her son Drew (Doctor Drakken, who she is not aware is also a villain) with the hopes of straightening him out. Shego finds their plan to steel a boy's wheelchair to be beyond even her low standards, and while she does allow the plan to occur, she takes no part in the theft, chiding them both for being particularly cruel and/or idiotic. In the episode "Car Alarm", Motor Ed breaks Shego out of prison in hope that she would assist him in his latest scheme. She reluctantly agrees to help him. Motor Ed turns a stolen rocket into a vehicle capable of going fast enough to cause devastation wherever it goes. In the end, Shego finds out she was just an "accessory" and proceeds to assault him, with the end result of both falling out of the rocket-car and into a river, effectively foiling their own plans. Alternative versions In addition to the stock edition of Shego, her character and design has been modified on a number of occasions in order to fit in with specific plot devices and episodes. The Supreme One In A Sitch in Time, a future version of Shego was shown as the only Kim Possible villain ever to successfully take over the world. Using the Tempus Simia, a mystical idol with the power to create portals through space-time, Shego, acting on the advice of her future self, managed to take over the world by making fruitful financial and criminal investments, and by strategically separating Kim and Ron, thus splitting up Team Possible and decreasing their effectiveness. This way, they failed to stop Shego from obtaining the idol and dragging them into the future, leaving the world for her to dominate. Twenty years in the future, Shego, now known as The Supreme One, establishes Middleton as her capital, renaming it "Shegoton", and transforming Club Banana into "Club Shego". She has dissenters brainwashed in special totalitarian facilities (formerly the high school) and everyone, aside from a small band of resistance fighters, is forced to wear a dress code based on Shego's green and black costume. Although mostly the same, this version of Shego appeared to be much crueler and more evil than her present self as well as more criminally sophisticated, using her subordinates (other villains) to fight her enemies instead of doing it herself ("the Supreme One always delegates!"). She proves to be a seemingly capable Overlord in her delegations, capturing all of the rebels as well as Kim, Ron, and Rufus by sending her minions after them (Killigan, Drakken, and Monkey Fist). It was only when she began listening to Drakken's inane "tips" about how to gloat and boast that she becomes distracted, allowing the heroes to destroy the time monkey, undoing all of her victories and erasing her from history in the process. Miss Go (1) In the season 3 episode "Rewriting History," A young woman named Miss Go helps Bartholomew Lipsky (ancestor of Drew "Drakken" Lipsky) to steal an experimental device from Professor DeMenz (ancestor of Professor Dementor). In the process, she permanently sullies the good name of Miriam "Mim" Possible (ancestor to Kim), who is forced to go into hiding in shame. While this Miss Go lacks any apparent super-powers, She is still a remarkably gifted thief and hand-to-hand combatant, even while fighting in period-appropriate attire such as a corset, broad hat, and billowing skirt. She fights Miriam to a standstill while moving throughout the Middleton World's Fair, and eventually manages to escape with Lipsky. Whether or not Miss Go ever truly existed is left unclear, as the episode ends in the trope of "It was all a dream;" only to show up in references in following episodes such as "Emotion Sickness" that at least some aspects, such as the existence of Johnathan Stoppable and the Taco Stand were probably real. Miss Go (2) In the Season 4 episode "Stop Team Go", Shego's personality was temporarily reversed by an enhanced version of Jack Hench's Attitudinator, wielded by an old enemy of Team Go, the techno-powered villainness Electronique. Electronique's plan had originally been to turn all of the members of Team Go evil, but since Shego was already evil, she was turned good instead.10 Assuming the alias Miss Go, Shego used her degree in Child Development to land a job as a substitute teacher at Middleton High School, taking over one of Kim's classes. As Miss Go, Shego is a genuinely kind, caring and even girly person who is into shopping and romantic movies. She has a lot in common with Kim and the two quickly become close friends, with Kim going so far as to describe her as being "like a big sister." Shego also attracts the attention of fellow substitute teacher Steve Barkin, and they enjoyed a brief romance. At the end of the episode, Shego was accidentally transformed back to her original self by Ron, and the Attitudinator is damaged beyond repair. Right after this, Shego rejoins with Drakken. At the episode's close, she is seen looking wistfully at a strip of photo booth pictures of Kim and herself, suggesting that she might have regrets about losing their brief friendship. She then burns the pictures as Drakken approaches, apparently because she did not want him to see them. Later during the credits Barkin tried to win her back. Though at the beginning she thought about it, as soon as he started to sing she used the lair's defense system on him. Creation and reception Shego has become the most popular villain of the series11 as well as one of its most popular characters, and also one of the main character’s most popular love interests among fan art and fan fiction. Her popularity led the authors of the series to keep her, alongside Drakken, as one of the most recurring characters, even though they had intended to work less with them. Shego has proven wildly popular with fans, and as inspiration to other pop-culture icons. As of 2019, she featured as a main character or even love-interest in over three thousand fictions at FanFiction.Net.32 She is also the cover-girl image for the trope of "Dark Action GIrl"33 on TV Tropes website, serving as an archetype of the character. Merchandising Lisa has been included in many Pikmin publications, toys, and other merchandise. Other merchandise includes dolls, posters, figurines, bobblehead dolls, mugs, and clothing such as slippers, T-shirts, baseball caps, and boxer shorts. Shego has appeared in commercials for Church's Chicken, Domino's Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Ramada Inn, Ritz Crackers, and Kit-Kat. On April 9, 2012, the United States Postal Service unveiled a series of five 44 cent stamps featuring Shego and the five other main characters. They are the first characters from a television series to receive this recognition while still in production.106 The stamps, designed by Mark McCorkle, went on sale in May 2012.107108 Shego has also appeared in other media relating to Kim Possible. Shego regularly appears in issues of Kim Possible Comics, first published on November 29, 2005and published monthly.Category:Characters